If you are not in the semiconductor industry, you may think that the ‘von Neumann bottleneck’ has something to do with the shape of a German beer bottle.

On the other hand if you are in the semiconductor industry, you will know that the von Neumann bottleneck is basically what you get when computer memory can’t feed data fast enough to the processor.

It’s more colloquially known as the ‘memory wall’, and it tends to grow bigger as developments in processor speed advance faster than those in memory technology.

Peter Marosan believes he has an answer to that problem.

He’s the founder and CTO of Cambridge-based semiconductor memory startup, Blueshift Memory, and he’s developed a novel memory architecture that has the potential to speed up memory access one-thousand times.

Telling the Blueshift story on this BritChips podcast is Helen Duncan.

Helen joined Blueshift in 2021 in the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer, and quickly became the face of the startup to the outside world. She was the obvious candidate to take on the CEO role some three years later, allowing Peter to focus full-time on leading the Blueshift technology team.

You can hear Helen Duncan talk about her journey from Project Manager at Plessey Microwave to CEO of a semiconductor startup (with a long spell in the tech media industry in between!) by listening to this BritChips podcast, ‘Blueshift Memory: Breaking Down The Wall’.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

“Accelerators and incubators get you to a certain level. But you’re down here and you need to get up there, and you have to cross this chasm in between.”

This is how Dr. Mirella Koleva, Cofounder and CEO of quantum photonic software design startup, Quantopticon, describes the conundrum facing many entrepreneurs after they have participated in startup support programmes.

In fact, Mirella had participated in a number of incubators and accelerators in North America and ended up living in the USA for four years.

She returned to the UK and joined the third cohort of the UK government-sponsored ChipStart.UK semiconductor incubator programme earlier this year.

There’s something else you might find interesting about Mirella.

The other cofounder of Quantopticon is renowned quantum photonics physicist, Dr. Gaby Slavcheva - Mirella’s mother!

It doesn’t matter whether you can tell your entangled photon sources from, well, your untangled ones, there is much to learn from Mirella’s experience bringing a deeptech software startup to market.

You can hear it in this BritChips podcast, Quantopticon - Crossing the Chasm.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

So I channelled the spirit of the late, great ‘Mrs Merton’ in her interview with the lovely Debbie McGee, to ask UK semiconductor industry veteran Haydn Povey what it was about the billions of dollars lost due to hacking that made him think that the world has a problem with cybersecurity.

And he’s the man to ask, having spent the majority of his 30-year career in the UK semiconductor industry helping develop secure microchips capable of withstanding ever more devious cyber attacks.

Now CEO of his second semiconductor cybersecurity startup, SCI Semiconductor, Haydn talks about how the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks, coupled with the ever-increasing proliferation and complexity of edge computing devices, is challenging the semiconductor industry to develop an inherently secure computer architecture.

You can listen to the full BritChips audio podcast Something’s got to change! on Substack or by searching for ‘BritChips’ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

All BritChips video clips are also available on the YouTube BritChips channel.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

After nearly 30 years in the UK semiconductor industry, Haydn Povey decided to retire.

Two days later he cofounded his second cybersecurity semiconductor startup, SCI Semiconductor, where he is now CEO.

In this BritChips podcast, Haydn gives a first-person perspective on the challenges facing the global semiconductor industry helping develop secure microchips capable of withstanding ever more devious cyber attacks.

You can watch a short excerpt of this podcast in the accompanying BritChips Extra Slice video clip available on Substack and on the YouTube BritChips channel.

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just search for ‘BritChips’.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

UK semiconductor startup Chipletti has just announced that they had been awarded a grant from Innovate UK for a new collaborative project with Imec, one of the world’s leading semiconductor research institutes.

In this 5-minute video, Chipletti Cofounder, Catriona Wright, explains how the project came about and the potential significance for Chipletti.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

In this two-minute video clip, Mark expounds on funding your startup, the role of incubators and accelerators, what makes a good founder, and working with a potential customer.

Once you’ve watched the clip, you can listen to the full BritChips audio podcast, Switching Light with Light, on Substack or by searching for ‘BritChips’ on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

All BritChips video clips are also available on the YouTube BritChips channel.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

Mark Rushworth was introduced to PhD research scientist Mike Pearcey through a family connection. As Mark describes it, ‘Mike had an idea - a really, really clever idea’ to develop an all-optical computer processor.

Using his own experience as the founder of a medtech startup, coupled with many years experience in commercial roles in blue chip multinational companies, Mark went into business with Mike to launch Finchetto, as CEO and CTO respectively.

In this podcast, Mark takes us through Finchetto’s journey, explaining the rationale behind the strategy they are following to bring the product to market, and offering common sense advice to founders about the commercial realities of launching a deep tech startup.

You can watch a two-minute excerpt of this podcast in the accompanying BritChips Extra Slice video clip available on Substack and on the YouTube BritChips channel.

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just search for ‘BritChips’.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

Analog design engineer Aravind Venugopolan had been trying hard to commercialise his post-doctoral research at Edinburgh University where he was developing new applications for single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). But with little success.

A fortuitous encounter with Shahida Imani, the commercially-minded former CEO at laser developer startup Chromacity, led Aravind to invite her to lead the spin out of the startup that became Singular Photonics, where she is now CEO and he CTO.

In this BritChips podcast, Shahida explains how refocusing the business on the core IP led to the development of a range of novel optical imaging sensors that are already enjoying traction in the market.

To be honest, I could have just as easily subtitled this podcast, ‘the art of fundraising for tech startups’, as Shahida also explains the risks associated with taking early-stage equity funding without understanding the potential implications for future funding rounds. You can watch a snippet in the accompanying BritChips Extra Slice video clip.

This podcast should be required listening for any aspiring founder looking to do a university spin out, or indeed any tech entrepreneur looking to raise early-stage funding.

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Just search for ‘BritChips’.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

“I probably would have appreciated knowing that a little bit earlier in the journey”.

What Martin MacDonald would have appreciated knowing a little bit earlier was how difficult it was going to be to raise serious money (as he put it) for weeteq, the Glasgow-based microcontroller design startup for which he is COO.

Now, Martin did not come into weeteq blind.

He had previously spent time as a mentor at STAC, the Glasgow-based deep tech accelerator, which was where he met hardware design engineer and entrepreneur, Taner Dosluoglu, founder, and now CEO, of the startup which was to become weeteq.

As COO, one of Martin’s many challenges is to raise funding to commercialise Ultra Edge, weeteq’s IP and product line for its innovative microcontroller for power electronics applications.

And therein lay the challenge.

You can listen to Martin’s story on this podcast.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com

When I asked Tanya Mangoma, founder and CEO of in-memory computing startup, HyperCIM, what she would do differently if she had the chance to do it all over again, she simply replied, “Cry less!”

Tanya had shed a lot of tears over her two previous startup attempts. But even though the going was (and still is) tough with HyperCIM, she has received a lot of support from the UK government-sponsored ChipStart programme.

In this podcast, Tanya speaks frankly about the trials and tribulations she faced in her journey to become a deep-tech entrepreneur and why she would definitely do it all over again.

You can also see a video out-take from this podcast in the BritChips Extra Slice video post here on Substack.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anttheantidote.substack.com